The Outsider
by SentinelSpockNimoy
Summary: How would the scene have played out if Milo had more than just a little cut on his shoulder, or if the Atlanteans weren't scared away by the digger? My hella-long take on this idea. It's better than this summary makes it sound, I promise. Rating is for blood.


_**This idea came to me while writing a Cinemasins (an awesome YouTube channel, check it out if you haven't already) script for Atlantis. Why was I doing that? Because A. it's my all-time favorite Disney movie, and B. I was bored and thought it would be fun to do, since the actual Cinemasins never did it.**_

 _ **Anyway, as the description says, this is my idea of what would've happened if the Atlanteans . hadn't been scared off by the digger after healing Milo, and also if Milo's injuries had been more realistic to his situation. Rating is for blood and description of injury. I don't think it's that bad, but better safe than sorry. Also, very little swearing.**_

 _ **I don't own**_ _ **Atlantis: The Lost Empire**_ _ **. Believe me, you'd know if I did. I would-**_

 _ **Audrey: Yeah yeah, disclaimer, we know, shut up (tries to punch me) Two for flinching. (punches me twice)**_

* * *

They approached slowly, cautiously. At first, they thought the outsider had died in the fall from above that separated him from the others. But as they approached, they could see his chest rise and fall. He wasn't dead, just unconscious. But he was injured, they could see that. His clothes were strange, but the blood on them was easy to recognize. And as Kida drew nearer, she could see a slight jerk in the rise and fall of his chest, indicating labored breaths masked only by his unconsciousness. One of his legs was bent at an odd angle, and there was a dark stain on the ground beneath it. She edged the tip of her spear under the bottom of his shirt and carefully lifted it. She gasped when she saw the size and severity of the bruises there, and she could only imagine the wounds beneath them. She looked up to his face and saw a few scratches there, and cracks in the strange glass circles on his face.

She recognized him, though. She'd been watching him in particular ever since her hunting party had first spotted the outsiders coming. He'd caught her attention because he seemed so out of place. The rest of the male outsiders were at least decently sized and muscled, if not the huge burly sort like the dark skinned bald man or the pale skinned man who seemed to be the leader. But this man was small and thin, almost frail compared to even the women of the group. Where the others had a sort of military determination to press forward, this one had always been staring around, eyes wide with wonder as he would start talking about how old something was or how long it took to carve it. The others always brushed him aside or ignored him when this happened, and when they would stop to eat or sleep, the little one was always left alone.

The Little One. That was what she'd decided to call him, for that's what he seemed like. In body yes, but also in how he looked and acted. Whenever he would start talking about how old something was, his eyes would light up like shards of crystal, like a child seeing the world outside their house for the first time. Only to have that light snuffed out by the others, at which point he would adopt a weary, sad look that would last until he saw something else that amazed him.

A soft groan brought her back to the present. The Little One stirred weakly, and her companions jerked back in alarm.

 _"Kida! We should go now!"_ one warrior said, _"Just leave the outsider."_

 _"We cannot just leave him, he is hurt!"_ she answered.

 _"You know our laws would not permit it!"_ the other warrior said

 _"Yes, Galim, I know our laws."_ Kida said sharply as she turned back to The Little One, whose eyelids fluttered, _"But I also know what is right. The others do not know he is here. and he is too hurt to go looking for them. He will die if we leave him here like this."_

 _"He will die by our laws anyway."_ said the first warrior.

 _"Mekesh, I could not live with myself if I killed a helpless, injured person or just left them to die when I knew I could help them. It would be wrong, it would be against everything our people believe. Please understand."_ Kida looked at them, and though she couldn't see their faces through their masks, she knew them well enough to know she had won.

 _"All right, Kida."_ Galim said, _"We will take him back to the city."_

 _"He is awake!"_ Mekesh exclaimed. Kida looked and sure enough, The Little One was awake, his soft brown eyes wide with fear. He tried to move back from them, but the moment he did, the color drained from his face and he sucked in hard to contain the cry of agony that threatened to leave him. Galim and Mekesh moved to either side of him as she approached him, speaking softly, gently, in an effort to soothe him.

 _"Do not worry, Little One. We are here to help. Lay still, we will not hurt you."_ She gently lifted him off the ground with Galim's help, Mekesh supporting his injured leg. They moved quickly and silently, except for The Little One's soft sounds of pain. Kida responded to these, whispering softly to him, assuring him he was going to be all right. All three warriors noticed the red drips on the ground marking their path, but there was nothing they could do. As they exited the caves, The Little One fell limp in their arms, unconscious again.

* * *

Voices were the first thing Milo heard, and he wondered what had happened after the fall. But the voices weren't those of the others in the group. They spoke a strange language, though he thought maybe he recognized it. He groaned softly as some feeling returned to him, mostly a soreness throughout his whole body. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, noticing his glasses had cracked, and saw the creatures, whatever they were, standing over him, one of them holding up his shirt with a spear. He gasped and went to scramble back away from them. But the moment he did, his entire body erupted in pain, and it was all he could do not to scream. The creatures came closer, one of them, a female by the sound of her voice, speaking softly in the strange language. He realized she was speaking to him as she came to his side and he felt himself being lifted off the ground by two sets of arms, a third taking his legs. He winced as a burst of pain lanced through him every time he was moved. The female continued to speak softly to him as they carried him to who-knew-where. Weak from loss of blood, Milo slipped into unconsciousness again.

* * *

When he woke next, he was someplace warm. His whole body ached, and when he opened his eyes, everything was blurry. He blinked a few times to try to clear his sight before he realized he didn't have his glasses on.

 _Great,_ Milo thought, _I must have lost them when those...whatever they were brought me to...wherever I am._ He tried to sit up and instantly cried out in pain, even as he felt a pair of soft hands gently easing him back down.

"Lay still." came a woman's soft but stern voice, and Milo recognized it as the woman who had spoken to him in the caves. "You are badly injured, Little One." she added.

"H-How-" he gasped out.

"Your companions are with my father now." she said, "We have not yet told them you are here, as they have just arrived and we were busy with your injuries." As if on cue, Milo felt another stab of pain, and the blur he guessed was the woman came closer and lowered itself beside him. He felt a hand brush back his hair with a soft touch.

"I know it hurts," the woman said softly, "but the healers say you will be all right, Here, I will help with the pain for now." The blur moved and suddenly the pain from his leg dulled, followed by the pain from his chest.

"Thank you." he said weakly. She noticed how his eyes seemed to drift around, not focusing on anything in particular.

"Are you blind?" she asked, concerned.

"No, I just-...I need my glasses. I can't see without my glasses." he said slowly.

"What are glasses?" she asked.

"Pieces of glass. I was wearing them when we fell-"

"Ah, you mean the flat crystals you had on your face." Milo nodded, "They were cracked. Broken. Our craftsmen are repairing them." Kida smiled, knowing he probably couldn't see it.

Now that he was in the light and cleaned up, he was even more different from the others, whom Kida had seen in her father's throne room. His features were softer, his skin fairer, his limbs longer. But the biggest difference she saw were his eyes. Unlike the the others, The Little One had large, soft, warm eyes that shone with childlike innocence and genuine kindness. He was the complete opposite of the others.

"Who are you, Little One?" she wondered aloud. He must've heard her, because he answered.

"M-Me? Oh, uh, my name's Milo."

"Milo." Kida repeated. It was a strange word, but it fit him perfectly. At least she thought so. It sounded so...small and innocent. Just like him. "I am Kidagakash. You may call me Kida if that is easier for you." Milo nodded slowly.

"Kida. I can remember that."

"And you are Milo. I can remember that." she said, earning a tiny smile from Milo. She moved a stray piece of his soft brown hair out of his eyes just as the healer, Keshet, returned. She frowned when she saw that Milo was awake.

 _"He's not going to like this, Kida."_ she warned, _"He's broken some ribs in addition to that leg. I still have to set all of those, and it WILL be painful. VERY painful."_

 _"I found him, I will stay with him."_ Kida said. Keshet nodded as Kida sat back down beside Milo, laying his head in her lap. As if he had understood their rapid Atlantean, Milo's entire body was trembling, his eyes wide again. He was scared. She couldn't blame him, really. He was defenseless and at their mercy, he was badly injured, and he couldn't see what they were doing to him. The shakiness in his voice confirmed his fear.

"Kida? Kida, what's happening? Where are you?"

"Shh, Milo, I am here." she said, stroking his forehead gently. "You are going to be all right."

"What about that woman? She said 'it will be painful.' What is she going to do to me?" He shook harder as he looked at her.

"You have broken your leg and some ribs, Milo. She is going to-" Kida cut off as she suddenly realized what had just happened. Milo had repeated, in his own language, Keshet's exact words! But how? A look from Keshet told her she hadn't imagined it. Which left only one explanation.

Milo could understand Atlantean.

"You know our language?" Kida said, surprised.

"Yes." Milo answered, "Yes, I can read and speak Atlante-AAAAAAAGH!" Milo screamed as Keshet started on his leg, and Kida was surprised by how loud the sound was. She hated the sound, along with the sickening sound of his bones being moved back into place. Milo's cries only got worse as Keshet continued, tears springing to his eyes faster than Kida could dry them. It was a horrible, inhuman sound, the most awful thing she'd ever heard, even as he begged for the pain to end.

After what seemed like forever, his leg was straightened and Keshet was immobilizing and bandaging it. Kida slowly lifted a sobbing Milo into a sitting position against her side as she held up a cup of water to let him drink. He did so in between sobs, his hair matted with tears and sweat.

"I'm afraid the worst part is next." Keshet said gravely, "and as much as I would like to let the poor thing rest after that ordeal, I cannot. His bones would start to heal incorrectly, and then I would have re-break them before I set them, and that would be even worse for him." Kida nodded as Milo finished his drink. She carefully laid him back down and took his hand in hers, nodding to Keshet that he was ready.

If Kida thought his screams of agony were horrible before, they were nothing compared to the gut wrenching sounds that tore out of him now. If Death itself were a sound, she was certain it would be this sound. Fresh rivers of tears poured from Milo's eyes. Only her hold on his hand stopped her from running from the awful, heartbreaking sound sound. If this was her reaction just to hearing it, she couldn't even imagine what it was like to be Milo and FEEL it.

* * *

The only warning Milo had received had been the woman saying "it will be painful" in Atlantean. But even her added "VERY painful" didn't prepare him for what was coming. The pain assaulted him, forcing the screams out of him. His leg felt like it was stuck in a furnace. He couldn't stop the tears that flowed from his eyes, making his already blurry vision even worse. He focused all his attention on the soft hands he knew to be Kida that he felt trying to dry his tears. When at long last it was over, Kida had helped him sit up to take a drink. The cold water rushed into him, seeming to dull the burn of his pain. That is, until he was laid back down and he felt Kida take his hand in hers.

Then he felt a whole new kind of pain that threatened to rip him apart. The soft, soothing voice of Kida was drowned out by Milo's shrieks as the pain only got worse, ripping into every part of him, threatening to destroy him. When it was finally over, he had just enough time to realize that it was over before darkness took him.

Kida felt Milo go limp against her just seconds after Keshet said she was finished putting the bones back in place and started setting and bandaging his chest. Kida carefully dried the remaining tears and sweat off his face.

"it's over now." the old healer assured her, "The worst is over."

"That was the most horrid thing I've ever heard." Kida said.

"He'll be alright now. And now we can use the crystals to move things along some." Together, Keshet and Kida repeatedly used their crystals on Milo's set bones, doing as much as they could before he woke.

* * *

Milo was still in the same place when he woke, but the pain was almost gone, now a dull ache. He still couldn't see, but he could feel someone gently cleaning his face with a wet cloth. He groaned quietly.

"Kida?" he asked.

"Yes, Milo." she answered, "Don't worry, the worst part is over. You won't have to go through that again."

"Thank you, again." he said, "For saving my life, I mean." She nodded, then remembered the craftsman that had come by while Milo was unconscious.

"Here." she said as she carefully unfolded the strange things and gently placed them on Milo's face the way she had seen them on him before. Instantly, his eyes lit up.

"My glasses!" he exclaimed, "You fixed them!"

"We thought they were of sentimental value to you, but then you told me you cannot see without them, so I sent a message to the glass crafter and the metal smith that were working on them that they were needed quickly." With the glasses on now, his eyes focused and didn't roll around in all directions. They stayed trained on her as she spoke. The lenses actually made his eyes look a bit larger, and she found he looked even better with them on.

"The others will be here to see him soon." Keshet said, "If he feels up to it, of course."

"Yes," Milo nodded, "Now that I can actually see them."

* * *

They had searched around the cave once they realized Milo was missing, each person (except probably Rourke) Wondering what had happened to him. It was Audrey who had first come upon the rock with the dark stains on and around it. She gasped at the size of the stain on the ground. She only hoped the linguist was okay. Yes, he was frustrating and weird and always seemed to be in the way, but that didn't meant she wanted to see him hurt or worse. She swallowed hard when she realized the stains were blood.

"You guys better get down here!" she yelled back. She then noticed the barefoot tracks of three different sizes all over the ash on the ground. There were smaller drips leading away from the big bloodstains, along with three sets of footprints, but none of them were Milo's boots, so whoever the tracks belonged to must've carried Milo off. Audrey heard the others coming behind her.

"This way!" she called as she started following the trail of blood drops, "And fast! It looks like he's hurt!" She could've sworn she heard Rourke groan under his breath, but at that moment she just wanted to find Milo and be sure he was all right.

* * *

Audrey's hands flew to her mouth when they were led to the healer's area and she saw a pair of pants and a bloody shirt thrown on a table that had to be Milo's. Only he was that small. She saw his boots on the floor, one of them cut open down the side with bloodstains around the top and the sock still inside it.

 _"Dios mio!"_ she said, and her hand went to Milo's bag, which hung over her shoulder. She looked inside and for once was glad he was so weird, for he'd put an extra set of clothes in the bag. All he'd need were new boots.

She followed the others into another room and that's where she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Milo was alive, and it seemed the Atlanteans had already been caring for him, as they'd cleaned all the dirt and blood off him. His hair was still matted against his head, and she could tell he'd been crying from something. Then she noticed his chest and right leg wrapped in white bandaging, two pillows supporting his leg and a blanket draped over him.

"Hey guys." he said. Audrey was about to make some snarky comment at him, but stopped when she heard the weariness in his voice. Clearly, he'd been in a lot of pain, if he wasn't still. Snark was probably the last thing he needed.

"Milo, what happened?" she asked, "We thought you died."

"I felt like I was dying when they set my ribs." Milo said as Sweet knelt beside the low bed Milo was on and started to examine him.

"No sign of infection or inflamation, internal or otherwise." Sweet announced, "Major bruising around the fracture sites, but that's to be expected. No sign of any other injury, major or minor. Looks-"

"Sweet, the rest of him's already hurt, don't give him a headache too." Vinny said.

"But this is weird." the doctor said, "These breaks look like he's been recovering from them for weeks. And those cuts through his shirt? Nowhere to be found."

"Ah, that would be our doing." Keshet said, "Watch." They did as she lifted on corner of the blanket, exposing Milo's arm and a cut across the top of it. She quickly healed the wound with her crystal, the cut gone when she removed her hand, as if it was never there.

"Of course, broken bones take a lot more of that if you need them to heal quickly. It helps with pain, too."

"So, he'll be okay." Audrey said. Keshet nodded.

"He can go now if he feels like it. Just take it easy on that leg and those ribs."

"I have a spare set of clothes in my bag." Milo said, "Except shoes."

"I still got my standard issues I never wore." Vinny said, "Those would probably fit you. Lemme go get 'em" And with that the explosives expert ran out of the room.

"Here you go." Audrey said, pulling out Milo's spare clothes. "Really? You even brought an extra BELT?"

"Hey, you laughed at me for packing the clothes, and look what happened." Milo shot back as Sweet helped him remove his splints and slip his pants on.

"...okay, you got me there." the mechanic said as she helped him into his shirt, just as Vinny brought in his spare shoes, which Milo pulled on under Sweet's watchful eye. Finally, he took his bag back from Audrey.

"Thanks." he said.

"Just do us a favor, Milo." Vinny remarked.

"What?" the linguist asked. Audrey glared as she took his arm and led him out of the building.

"Don't almost die again."


End file.
